New Year 2022
Hey everyone, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years. This year unlike last, I am very thankful that the Covid regulations allowed me to fly home and spend time with family and friends for the Holidays. It was only when I arrived back in Toronto in mid-December that I realized I had not seen Snow (other than out of a plane window) in over a year and a half. Usually, I’m not one to do well with the cold but I have to admit coming back to a little bit of Canadian winter had a certain element of home that while may not be ideal year-round was just what the doctor ordered. I was also very thankful to be able to come home and spend time with my grandmother whose health had been in decline for some time. She was truly my biggest fan. She would be the first looking through the results after every day of racing and always excited for every new place I sailed or traveled. I’m very grateful to have been able to be beside her in her final days.
Being home is always a blessing and a curse, of course getting to see friends and family never goes unappreciated, and home cooking (especially over Christmas) is always good for a few pounds on the belly. But at the same time when you are used to working 6 days a week towards a singular goal it becomes hard to power down and take some time to relax. Even working through an elevated strength and conditioning program over the holidays left me with lots of time sitting around wondering what to do with myself. I talked about this on one of my first days back home with Onika, my sports psych I’ve been working with for about a year now. She asked me in a perfect world, what would be something I would change about my life between then and the end of the holidays. This brought about a pit in my stomach as I knew there was something I had been putting off for far too long. I knew that my campaign website was something that I needed to get done and had been putting off for far too long. So, I made a deal with her to work on it for at least an hour every day and she would hold me accountable at our next meeting. Once I got a start on it believe it or not it actually turned out to be quite enjoyable work. What I ended up creating is the perfect tool for sharing travel pictures, uploading all of my newsletters, collecting donations, and telling the story of the Olympic journey I am on.
With some good but productive time back at home under my belt the time came to get back to work and head down to Florida for the first training camp of 2022. At the end of 2021 the Canadian National Team had hired recently retired 2 time Olympic Laser sailor from Trinidad and Tobago Andrew Lewis to head up the Laser team in a coaching role. I have sailed against Andrew a little bit in the past and my full-time coach Alex is quite close friends with him so I was excited to get to know him a bit better and hopefully take a few tip. I was also super excited to get spend some time with the Canadian Laser boys, they are some of my closest friends and other that a few days here and there at regattas I haven’t got to spend any time with them for the past two years. All of this is fine and well but the main reason I came down to Florida Is a little more serious. The regatta out of Lauderdale Yacht club from the 15th-17th of January is last change to qualify for the 2022 Canadian Sailing Team and Funding from Sport Canada. As I am sure you are all aware, finding the funds to fuel the Olympic dream is no easy feat. Especially during Covid while fundraisers have been limited by gathering sizes, I go through life pretty much month to month wondering where the next money is going to come from to continue. For that reason, this is going to be one of the most important regattas in which I’ve ever competed.
So now I am sitting here on a sunny afternoon by the pool at the Lauderdale Yacht Club writing this newsletter. It’s truly hard to find much to complain about, life has certainly been much worse but at the same time I have a proper task so there is no mistaking the fact that I am at work. I’m excited to show the gains I’ve been making over the last two years abroad and have showcased at Euros and Worlds in the Fall. I have been performing well in the training so far and with only a few days left to the regatta I am feeling very confident which is all I can ask for.
I am also very excited for the training block that is coming up after this regatta. On Jan 21st after racing and a Team Canada Camp I am heading back to Malta for two months of training. I mentioned in my last newsletter that the next world championship is coming up quick. In the first week of June Puerto Vallarta Mexico will be the setting for the best in the world to vie for the top spot. That means that a busy schedule is guaranteed as from here on out we are completely focused on peaking for that event.
Our plan so far (barring and covitastrophes) is to spend February and March at home base in Malta with our core group and maybe some guest appurtenances from the Irish and Croatian teams. Then at the beginning of April we will head to Palma de Mallorca for the Princess Sofia regatta. This regatta is one of the biggest in the world and is one I have been trying to go to for 4 years running now but for various reasons have never been able to make it. After that we are heading to Valencia for 2 weeks of training. SailCoach has opened up a new Sail Base there which caters mainly to their SailCoach Lite services so it will be nice to explore the new venue. Finally, we will head to Hyeres for a World Cup regatta which we will use as a warmup event before we take a few weeks off then head down to Mexico for the big dance. It is a big few months coming, but as always I am strapped in and focused on what needs to be done.
Thanks to everyone to following along with my Journey in the new year. I hope you all like the new website, please use it to keep up to date with all things James! And please direct anyone you may think is interested in my journey here to follow along and subscribe to my newsletters!
Until next time,
James
To Anna Juhasz, my biggest fan who sadly won’t be around to read these anymore.